Let this be a place to discover and share braid knots with like-minded people, and, where possible, popularise them so that they may become more mainstream.
For consideration, all braid knots must consistently meet the minimum performance standard of 90% of the line's breaking strain.
It sounds easy. It is not.
A knot of this quality deserves a totem fish that commands worldwide respect, and what better fish to choose than a Blue Marlin or Broadbill Swordfish - the gladiator of the high seas …
Unfortunately, the closest I have come to having such an experience is to visit the Bay of Islands in New Zealand where renowned author and fisherman, Zane Grey, had one of his fishing bases.
Let’s read an extract of his where he finds himself attached to what must have been a very big fish indeed:
When formulating new knot patterns, or modifications of existing ones, I have found it essential to equip myself with a set of round, waxed, shoelaces - the longer, the better:
Recently, I have also found a marlin spike to be very useful for unpicking the knots I have just tied - especially when using thin shoelaces and a knot pattern that really clamps down hard with the minimum of provocation:
For some reason, I have found it all too easy to take the wrong path when unpicking this knot, and have ended in a world of trouble in consequence …
Once you have released the wrap circling the neck of the loop, carefully observe the path of the loop beneath the overlying two straps. If you set about releasing the first of these binding wraps which align with the path of the loop, it should be a matter of repetition until all the binding wraps have been released.
The general rule is that the thinner a line’s diameter is, the more wraps are required. Conversely, the thicker and stronger a line is, the less wraps are needed. Fine 10lb braid will require 10 double-line wraps whereas an ocean-going monofilament line of 250lbs might manage with as little as 3 double-line wraps. Of course, you have the alternative of using the Trinity Loop Knot Single for your really heavy lines if you so wish.
Let’s get started.
1)
Take your line and double it. Allow yourself a length of at least 16 inches. My shoelace only runs to 29 inches which, when doubled, does not allow a lot of material to work with:
2)
Make the first of the three loops which gives this knot pattern its name, Trinity. This loop will be the first of the three loops you will pull upon, hence is referred to as the Primary Trapping Loop strap. Note how the main wrapping loop sits on the outside of this primary loop:
3)
Now form the Secondary Trapping Loop strap with the main line and the tag. Make this smaller than the primary loop as you need to determine which is which when it comes to following the correct order of cinching. This secondary loop will also have the main line and tag on the outside, albeit heading in the opposite direction to the main wrapping loop. Look carefully, and you will notice that the main wrapping loop now sits between primary and secondary loops:
4)
Arrange the smaller loop so that it sits adjacent to the larger primary loop, holding everything in place with the thumb and forefinger of your non-dominant hand. Now, you are ready to make the tertiary trapping loop strap. Carefully, take the wrapping loop around one of your fingers positioned under primary and secondary loops, and bring it up through the back of the secondary loop thus:
5)
Now, remove your finger from the tertiary trapping loop and insert the wrapping loop through it:
6)
Take the wrapping loop up under the main line and tag, and back through the secondary trapping loop to form the second binding wrap:
7)
At this point, it is a good idea, with the heavier thicker lines, to take hold of the wrapping loop and tertiary (bottom) trapping loop, and with your thumb and forefinger of the other hand, move the binding wraps to the right to allow space for additional ones to be added, like so:
8)
Once you have added the amount of binding wraps your line type and line strength require to meet your performance requirements, it’s time to tension the binding wraps and ensure that your lines have not become cross during wrap-binding process.
Insert the forefinger of one hand through the wrapping loop and grip with your thumb. Using the same hand, insert a finger in the bottom tertiary trapping loop to prevent premature closure. With your other hand, take the right-hand side of the larger primary trapping loop, and pull to the right. You will see the binding wraps compress into a neat order.
Additionally, gripping the rest of the knot with one hand, move the binding wraps as far to the left as possible whilst still maintaining their order.
9)
Now, you are ready to cinch what will form the ‘collar strap’. The third (tertiary) trapping loop, which was the last to be added, now becomes the one you cinch first. To do this, place the finger of one hand through the wrapping loop, remove your finger from within the tertiary trapping loop, and, taking the right-hand side of the larger primary loop, pull on it upwards and to the right. The tertiary trapping loop forms the first double-line strap around your binding wraps.
Take each separate line of the primary loop and pull on it individually just to ensure everything is nice and tight. I like to moisten whatever line I am using, even a braid, prior to any cinching activity to avoid line burn. With fine braid, in particular, moisture helps keep the different lines together making the knot easier to handle.
Just prior to cinching this first strap, your knot should appear as follows:
10)
Place your finger through the wrapping loop, supporting the body of the knot with your other fingers. With your other hand, pull upwards and to the right on the right-hand side of the larger primary trapping loop.
This will secure the first overlying strap (collar strap) in place - make sure you cinch it nice and tight:
11)
With the tertiary strap cinched, as you can see, it’s time for the primary trapping loop to be cinched.
Take hold of the smaller, secondary trapping loop, and as before, pull on the right-hand side of it upwards and to the right. With un-lubricated waxed shoelaces, it will tend to stick, so, a pull upwards on the left side will help. With well-lubricated lines, it shouldn’t be an issue.
As before, pull on each trapping loop strap line independently and in unison:
12)
In the next photo, we see the secondary trapping loop strap being almost fully extended, and the primary trapping loop strap just about to be cinched down:
13)
Here, the secondary trapping loop strap has been fully extended and duly cinched with both loop lines being pulled on independently and in unison. The second strap so-formed by the primary trapping loop strap is clearly visible, as is a gap between the two straps you have just cinched:
14)
Time for the final cinching!
With the finger of one hand in the wrapping loop, take up the main line and tag with the other and slowly pull tight the remaining trapping loop strap. I like to position it in the gap between the two existing straps. Try to ensure that both lines of the loop sit parallel with one another when performing the final cinch. As before, pull first on one line, then the other, then both together to get maximum tightness:
15)
And here it is, the finished knot - one collar strap and the other two straps sitting side by side:
16)
I like to reinforce my knots with a series of reversed half hitches in pairs called Cow Hitches:
VIDEO
I have put together a video so that you may see this knot being constructed in real time.
I am afraid it won’t win any Academy Awards, but it will, hopefully, give you some idea of finger positioning as you go through its different phases.
Thank you for taking the time to read me. I promise to make it worth your while.
With these two loop knot variations - Trinity Loop Knot Double and Trinity Loop Knot Single, I think I have reached the pinnacle of my knot-tying ambitions.
However, before I begin, and before you prejudge this introduction as just another fusty lecture (learned and well-meaning, but drier than the desert), take a good look at the background in the above photograph of the two sibling knots.
Do any of you recognise it? Let me give you some clues …
It’s fair to say that we can all do with a little magic in our lives and, dare I say it, once you familiarise yourself with the capabilities of these knots, the skye’s the limit …
Not many folks get to learn the history behind the knots they use. They don’t need to. It’s fair to say that this pattern of knot, the Trinity Knot, came close to not being born.
For, I was using ordinary string because I had no waxed round shoelaces to practise with. String has a propensity to jam where a shoelace does not, giving the false impression that it was impossible to cinch the knot.
Despite these setbacks, I felt like I was being encouraged to persist in what seemed like a pointless exercise. Eventually, the multi-cinching sequence was revealed to me. I felt fairly confident that my efforts would not be in vain. I had devised similar patterns previously.
Even though I was not positioning these knots for use on the finest slickest of braids, past experience taught me that any quality loop knot would need to do well in this challenge for it to be considered for use on all types of line material.
Most knots, when subjected to the ‘braid challenge’, will put in a good performance with scope for improvement. The Trinity Loop Knot Double was not just good, it was shockingly good! At the first attempt, the digital readout swung past 10 lbs b/s on my nominally 10-pound breaking-strain line (it’s 11 lbs b/s).
The initiating cinch had not gone well - 10 double-line wraps in a confined space tend to do that. I subsequently tried a lesser amount of wraps thinking that less wraps and better cinching would compensate. They didn’t! As soon as I restored the 10 wraps, I restored the digital readout of 10 lbs b/s.
Oh well, the price you pay for such fine lines! Loop Knots such as my Tuna Knot and Double Down Knot are eminently more suited to such fine lines - even at the cost of lots of wraps.
A little ball of power ready to take on the world. From humble beginnings to championship performance …
After creating diverse loop knots that could hold to at least 90% of the line’s strength, I turned my attention to the pursuit of loop knots that could meet this prerequisite using a minimum number of wraps.
In this, I was singularly unsuccessful! After a year of fruitless attempts, I was forced to concede defeat. I pictured what I needed to find in my mind’s eye. It was to be a technically-challenging knot to tie with the ‘technical challenges’ cutting down on the need for multiple wraps. Hard as I tried, that special combination refused to materialise.
It was a change of perspective that brought me back.
Instead of adapting sea-fishing knots for my own light-line ends, I wanted to create a sea-going loop knot suited to the heaviest lines across all line materials. Lines in the 80lb - 400lb range, that is. As some of the lines being accommodated would be super thick and inflexible, a single-line version of the knot pattern would be selectable, with a double-line version to cater for more flexible and slippery line materials.
Through long years of working with the fine slippery braid you see pictured, I have come to understand that while not all knots are suited for use with braid, those that are, will work just as well with other line types like monofilament and fluorocarbon. Therefore, when devising knots, I have tended to use the performance observed on fine braid as the gauge by which any of my creations succeed or fail.
My Trinity Knot pattern is no different. Even though it is not intended for use with fine braid, it must still pass the braid challenge. Earlier, I cited the performance of my Trinity Loop Knot Double on fine braid.
In some ways, the performance of my Trinity Loop Knot Single is even more remarkable. Whereas it took my TLKD x10 double-line wraps (equivalent to x20 single-line wraps) to secure a full-house 10 lbs b/s, the Trinity Loop Knot Single managed to score a 9.4 lbs b/s with only x9 single-line wraps! This indicates to me the presence of some serious ‘stiction’. For a knot pattern intended for heavyweight lines where the number of wraps might be at a premium, this could be important.
LINE TESTING
If you are familiar with my other posts, you will know how much importance I give to testing knots on digital scales to optimise the performance of the tying configuration to be applied. You will also know that it is one thing to push a knot to its limits on a 10lb line with a hand-held set of scales, and a much harder task to do the same with a line running into hundred’s of pounds. So difficult, in fact, that I venture to suggest that it is seldom attempted outside the confines of the manufacturer’s laboratory.
But you know what? I think for a moderate investment in two key items, testing of these heavy lines is feasible.
Whether you are testing at home or using your best friend’s local garage, you will need to equip yourself with a set of heavy-duty digital scales that can handle 500kg / 1102lbs:
The second piece of equipment very much depends on your chosen venue. The aim is to slowly increase the tension on your loop knot allowing the knot to settle and you to take in the digital readout. An electric hoist with a variable speed control would be ideal for the job. Failing that, a manual chain-block hoist could be pressed into service:
Whichever is used, secure mounting points will be required to support the hoist (especially for home use) and the line on which the loop has been tied.
The methodology is easy enough to understand:
If necessary, mount the hoist securely.
Attach the handle of the digital scales to the lower hook of the hoist.
Place the loop knot on the hook of the scales.
Wrap the end of the line multiple times around a floor-mounted ring such that the line is able to hold by itself. No knots are to be used. The line will be sacrificial in the case of mono and fluoro as it will ‘piggy-tail’ after use. A bulk line spool should be used.
When ready, switch on the scales.
Slowly dial in the tension mechanically or electrically.
Note the readout and the knot configuration used to achieve it.
Now that you understand the testing process, you would logically wish to test the strength of the line in use - before any knots are tied. This will serve two purposes:
You avoid expecting a higher performance from your knot than the line is capable of delivering. Most manufacturers understate the performance of their lines so that they can deliver what the label states. I once found the opposite and wasted a lot of time in pursuit of what was never going to be achievable.
You have a chance to test your set-up before moving on to your carefully curated knots.
To test, thread a goodly length of line through the floor-mounted ring and wrap it multiple times until it feels secure. Take the free end and wrap it multiple times around the hook of the scales. Apply the tension and watch the readout. The aim is not to destroy the line, though that could happen if it doesn’t match the claims made for it. Once it has reached the performance claimed for it, stop the upward lifting.
TIPS
During line poundage testing, note how much line was used in terms of length to achieve a secure hold on the floor-mounted ring.
Tie your loop knots in different configurations (noted in your notebook) in advance of testing, allowing for the length of line required to provide the floor-mounted wraps and have separation between floor and loop knot.
This approach will undoubtedly speed up the whole knot-testing process, and also help with your muscle memory if you are knot tying in batches.
LINE WEAR
Last, but not least, a word or two on the above. Most seasoned anglers will be aware of the effects of sun and water on monofilament and fluorocarbon lines. Long-term exposure to the elements will cause them to weaken. If left unaddressed, lines can break well below what is expected of them.
But while the above has been known about for a long time, you will find next to nothing written about braided lines which have endured the same exposure, often times, much longer. Why is this?
It’s mainly due to the durability of braided lines. Even after many years of use, they can still be as strong as the day they were first spooled - provided that they have not been abraded.
So, what’s the issue?
The loop knot you first tie will still be going strong years later whilst the braided line to which it is attached gets progressively slicker. Sooner or later, fate will take a hand. It might be a shark or barracuda biting you off, or nothing more innocuous than a clumsy client getting in a tangle. Whatever the cause, you are now faced with retying that loop knot. It should be a matter of applying your tried-and-tested knot configuration to restore normal service.
But it might not be …
With ‘longitudinal’ knots like my Tuna Knot and Double Down Loop Knot, I have found that keeping to the normal formula on a worn braided line won’t deliver the same performance as when it was new. This can be remedied by testing how many additional wraps and tucks are required to counteract the additional slickness.
Accordingly, once you have determined what the optimum configuration is for the new braided line you will be using, apply the same configuration to an older version of it. How did it fare? If there was little variation in results, then, there is no cause for concern. If you see a large drop in performance, you need to consider adding extra wraps, and possibly a judicious tuck absent from your original configuration.
Once performance has been restored to what you consider an acceptable level, and its configuration noted, you will know what to do when retying one of these loop knots on a worn line …
A cotter pin has been designed for many applications. For some applications, they are better-suited than for others, like securing the bonnets of high-performance vehicles for easy release. The pattern of cotter pin I refer to looks like this:
When purchasing my fishing trolley, I made what I thought were rigorous checks, but not rigorous enough, it seems. The trolley came with pneumatic wheels. These may look nice, but will puncture in no time as you pull it down bramble-strewn paths. Solid wheels are what you want - but do get the spindle width accurate if you are thinking of replacements via mail order. I didn’t and my trolley now wobbles along, but, at least, its wheels can’t puncture any more!
Something else I never thought to check was how those wheels were secured to the spindle. If you are accustomed to fishing heavily-manicured areas without a stray weed in sight, a cotter pin like the above might serve your purpose. A bit like using a road car on pothole-free roads. If, however, you intend to take your trolley down overgrown barely-passable tracks, a cotter pin like the above is the last thing you want to be securing your trolley wheels. No different from opting to take your road car off-road into a moisture-heavy farmer’s field. Things will go awry very quickly!
So it is with these types of cotter pin. At the slightest hint of long grass or bramble stem, they will get ‘yanked out’ with seemingly effortless ease.
What are your options?
Avoidance is better than cure, for sure. Be smart and don’t go for this type of wheel fixing if you are intending to go anywhere other than well-kept and predictable. But could it be that you have inherited the trolley and, being the spirited soul that you are, you want to ‘live life on the wilder side’? Not for you the manicured lakes that Gramps favoured. You are going to go ‘bush’ and you don’t see why you should fork out your limited funds on a new trolley when you have a perfectly-sound looking one ready for your use.
Fair enough. Necessity can be the mother of invention, after all.
The tried-and-tested fix I offer you is both simple and affordable. Get yourself two ladies’ hair grips - one for each wheel. Push the straighter of the prongs through the spindle hole made to take the cotter pin. Now bend the inserted prong around the spindle in the opposite direction to where it sits unused. Then take the un-inserted prong and bend it around the spindle in the direction opposite to how it sits when unused.
In so doing, you will see that you have made for yourself the shape of an anchor:
Just like the ‘anchor’ it resembles, your wheels will now remain firmly secured to their spindle whatever the terrain, and just like the cotter pin they replace, the hair clip is easy enough to remove should the need arise.
This is a post about One-stop Data Sourcing (Structured Data Streaming - SDS). If I wish to find out about a product, fishing or otherwise, I usually have to 'surf the Net' wading through mountains of videos, blogs, forum debates until I have enough information to make a determination. Does that not strike you as a bit long winded? Would it not make more sense for me to be able to open an App on my smart device, whether on -line or in-store, and scan the bar code of the product that interests me so that I may see the comments, reviews, how-to videos loaded by other users? Such technology can be applied to many kinds of products and its use is all around us right now. Not convinced? Well, we all use fishing line and the majority of us tie knots on our chosen line. If we are fortunate, our favourite knot will work fine on the selected line material. If we are new to angling or have decided to experiment with a different line material, we might find our favourite knots are no longer adequate. How convenient it would be to scan the bar code of the line we are considering purchasing and see all the best knots and configurations, comments, YouTube videos etc. there in the one location. A few years ago, I created the following presentation to illustrate the above points (I'm afraid the animation is switched off). I wrote it from the perspective of a publication holding the middle ground. You will also see the 'Younger Me' trying his hand at braid knots ... With Animation
Last year (2019), I revisited this idea and explored some more possibilities whilst condensing it at the same time (see link below). On the surface, the idea is fairly easy to present. The difficulty is knowing where to stop as the options are huge:
Whatever type of fishing you plan to do, you will be faced by the dilemma of how best to attach your line to the spool of your reel. Unsurprisingly, it is one of the commonest questions asked by novices. It may surprise you to know that there are multiple ways of doing this and that one way is not necessarily superior to another as it can depend on what the angler wishes to achieve. I will explain.
Many are concerned about line slippage rather than the strength of the knot, particularly with braided lines. A popular recommendation is to tie an Arbor Knotand then wrap some electrical tape over it to keep everything in place. This knot will lightly secure your line to the spool and provide little resistance should you be in danger of being 'spooled'.
The alternative school of thought is to use a much stronger knot to connect to the spool. In reality, if the fish has already pulled off so much line that it is now pulling against the spool, it is unlikely to be stopped there! However, the thinking is that providing your leader is weaker than the main line in whatever type of fishing you are participating, be it fly fishing, game fishing etc., a strong knot at the spool will cause the break to be at the leader end rather than the spool end resulting in you loosing only a few feet of line rather than the whole of the line.
"So, what kind of knot should I deploy?", you ask. If you are using monofilament or fluorocarbon as your main line, you can probably achieve moderate performance by wrapping your main line multiple times around the spool before applying a Uni Knot or San Diego Jam Knot. These materials are quite grippy and will afford you some security. With braid, and particularly fine braid in the 10-12 lbs class, it's a different story. Even though the type of knot I have just described will work very well with hooks and swivels using braid, a reel spool is different. You see, all connection knots rely to some degree for their performance on the item they are being attached to - the more awkward the shape, the more difficult it will be to get a slippery material like braid to grip.
That's why you should be looking to use a 100% non-slip loop. Whatever the line material you may be using, a non-slip loop relies for its strength solely on how well you have tied it and nothing else. The width of the attachment cannot affect it.
A strong Bimini Twist would certainly be a good candidate. Make the loop long enough so that when twisted, it fits over the spool at least twice. If you are using fine braid in the 10-12 lbs class, you will need to use x50 wraps in its composition. I am not alone in thinking this. See the 100 Percent Arbor Knot.
Good though the Bimini Twist undoubtedly is, I would like to suggest an alternative loop knot that has the added advantage of being adjustable - the San Diego Jam Loop Knot:
I successfully tied my 11 lbs braided line to my metal Shimano spool with the above knot as a single loop around the spool and in crossed-over doubled loop format. Both times, it went the distance.
Once you have tied your line to your spool, you will wish to ensure that you wind the line on in the correct direction to prevent it twisting up. The following diagram shows you the correct way:
Hopefully, you will now have a better understanding of the choices available to you when making this most important of decisions.
Using a loop as part of a hair rig is not new nor is the loop knot I am referencing. Using them together, however, may not be quite so common.
Of course, employing a Knotless Knot with a small loop to which has been affixed a Quick Stop is a tried and tested method with boilies and pellets.
Once you are looking to use traditional baits like worms, maggots, casters, and sweetcorn in a similar rebaitable way on a hair rig, the Internet becomes noticeably quiet as to available options.
If you are familiar with the Knotless Knot, the Mohawk Rigas demonstrated by Gardner Tackle may be just the rig for you. I tried to use this rig without the Knotless Knot as you can see in the following frame:
Unfortunately, this resulted in the hair rig becoming detached from the hook because of the strain imposed by pulling the small hook out for rebaiting. With the Knotless Knot, however, there is nothing to come undone so no problem.
UPDATE - 2nd September 2020
I have been using the Mohawk Rig to good effect on my local bream. I thread some fine braid through a large piece of buoyant sweetcorn, tie one end securely to the hook eye, and tie the other end to the small hook - I use a barbless size 14. Any slack between hook and bait is wrapped around the hook shank.
Baiting the little hook with two small worms or one larger one is a firm favourite with my local shoal. Of course, red maggots are equally acceptable and sometimes the smart choice if they are proving hard to hit ...
The following rig is something of an 'open secret' which I have on no lesser authority than Drennan Fishing Tackle International. For, I wrote to them to see if they could manufacture hook links with the hair rig loop and back stop in place. They very kindly responded that they were fully extended with their current range of products but did helpfully point out that the following rig is in common use and small float stops are a popular choice for the back stop:
(click on photos to expand)
Because I stumbled upon this rig by trial and error (there being nothing much on the Internet at the time), I used a variety of different back stops ranging from artificial rubberised sweetcorn, casters and maggots, to thick strips of brown rubber band. In all cases, I used a small strip of thin red rubber band on the inside of the hair rig loop for the back stop to push the hair rigged baits up against. Friction in the back stop is the key point.
I thought the GEMINI might be an interesting variation but have not had a chance to test it yet on my local bream.
Last summer, I used Drennan's Double Strength (4 lbs b/s diameter 2 lbs b/s) as my hair rig material. I tied one end to the eye of the hook securely and a loop to the other end. I had the length of the hair longer than I needed so wrapped the excess line around the shank of the hook which, being mono-filament, promptly took on the appearance of a spring when unravelled!
The following knot - The Indicator Knot - is ideally suited, with a tweak, to allowing you to measure off exactly where you wish to position your hair rig loop in relation to the hook and how big a loop you want to have.
This means you can avoid the twisting that can accompany the use of mono-filament as hair rig material. My preference, however, is to use braid as it is more durable and has no memory.
So, here it is.
(click on photos to expand)
01
Tie
a piece of fine braid securely to the eye of the hook. Form a loop where you
wish your hair loop to be
02
Make
a loop in your line and push the loop through the loop in the previous frame.
The good thing about this type of loop is that, if you are unhappy with its
position, you can just pull it out and start the loop again. I did this many
times until I positioned the loop exactly where I wanted it in relation to the
hook
03
Once
you have positioned the loop where you want it and have it the size you want,
make another loop as shown
04
Twist
the loop slightly towards you as you slip it over the baiting loop. This will
lock it into place
05
Trim
the end off. Slip your thick piece of rubber band or small green float stop or
rubber artificial onto the loop and slide to the back of the loop
